Imagine playing Mario Kart in the real world using miniature, artificially intelligent robotic cars with real personality and their own weapons.

Launching on Monday in the UK, the Anki Drive racing game was created by robotics experts using the same principles as Google's self-driving cars. One player can race others cars that control themselves, responding and adapting to the real player.

“It sits at the intersection of toys, video games and mobile devices,” Boris Sofman, co-founder and chief executive of Anki, told the Guardian.

“We wanted to kick off this new category of entertainment where we can programme a video game on top of physical characters in the real world for the first time."

Anki Drive is an advanced slot car racing game that uses an artificial intelligence (AI) engine in its remote control - which is an app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

But Anki Drive is much more than a toy. Sofman and Anki’s two other founders, Mark Palatucci and Hanns Tappeiner, are graduates from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, where the startup was jump started in 2008 during their doctoral research projects into machine learning, AI, robotics and self-driving cars.

‘A situation that’s not vastly dissimilar to what Google is doing’

AI and player cars all controlled from the iPhone app, which adds sound effects, vibration feedback and visual cues as weapons fire and affect your car. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The technology is similar to Google's software for self-driving cars, which has to identify objects and entities in the real world. Beyond that, the mathematics and computing is very similar.

“We’re doing motion planning in a 2D space and thinking about the four-dimensional problem of lateral position, forward position, speed and time, to figure out how to sneak up behind you and use a weapon or ability to cause mischief, but it’s the same family of algorithms Google is using," said Sofman.

'Corax is like the jerk in the bunch, akin to Wolverine from X-Men'

Up to six cars can race on the track together. The robotic opponents know where the player is on the track and can react and adapt, thinking two or three seconds ahead to challenge the player. Each one has their own personality and style: some beat the player using weapons, others cut them up, while others just go faster.

“Corax is the most offensive and aggressive character in the game with extra weapons and fire power," said Sofman. "He won’t let you control him until you’ve beaten him in combat and proven you’re worthy.”

Players can visit virtual garages to upgrade their cars or fit more powerful weapons, but have to pay for improvements by winning credits as they win races.

Upgrade your car to enhance its speed, agility or weapons system with points won from races. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

The pairing of a hardware frame to a software-driven experience also allows the system to be upgraded rapidly without having to buy new components. Since launch in the US in October 2013, Anki has pushed out two major updates, one adding a new racing mode and another adding support for more personality, new cars and new tracks.

‘A vision to be ‘the’ consumer robotics company’

Anki Drive is the robotics startup’s first product, but the company has ambitions beyond racing games.

Anki is exploring using Drive and its robotics platform for education, allowing others to programme on top of the small robots. The company is working with Carnegie Mellon, using its founders’ alumni contacts. It is planning a software development kit, to allow players to send commands from Raspberry Pi computers and other devices.

“We have a broader vision to be ‘the’ consumer robotics company, not just on the hardware side but on the AI side," said Sofman. "Robotics is just an extension of computer science, and when you have something that can sense the environment around it, the next stage is all software to bring it to life."